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The first HK Lancaster WIP?


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Starting to build up steam now.  I have been working on radios.  The sundry black boxes have connectors moulded on to them, so I got the micro drills out to enable rioja-wire (my go-to cheapskate solution for cabling) to be inserted...

 

y4mT2wnuVMryoQXtje6Aplw8UBh-vz_m7vD-kOKi

 

Like this....

 

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I also painted the main radio unit.  The semi-circular tuning scale is tricky to hand paint... it could use a decal.  Are you listening, @airscale?!

 

y4my1ZgUQlZxpOLwrkZCIT7wEYpQdbYgrGfBLzrA

 

Having attached the wiring, I'll be in the lookout for good interior pictures that tell me where I can run them.  As usual, all suggestions gratefully received!  I think I'll connect that morse key (because I think that's what it is) to something.  The radio unit perhaps?

 

That's it for the winterval.  If you thought progress was slow before, you ain't seen nothin' yet (b-b-b-baby)

 

(edit) ...and then I Googled for 'Lancaster bomber radio operator's position', and clicked on 'Images'. Henceforth I shall stop asking stupid questions of the hive mind! 

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And then I went out for another 90 minutes, most of which was spent drilling holes and plugging in bits of wire to dress the black boxes...

 

y4mFJfD7uSvrhq_xNj9Yayr4Glx_cZzQV3N3W2j3

 

They look nice as brass, but unfortunately I'm going to paint them black.  I suspect painting things black is going to be a bit of a theme for this kit!

 

Also, a few posts back I said I was going to 'distress' the pilot's seat.  Here it is, sans head armour and waiting some RB seatbelts (or maybe those impossible paper ones.  We'll see).  Does it look like worn leather?  I can't tell, any more!

 

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The magnification makes me want to address the overpaint at the front.  However, when I'm looking at it in the flesh - and particularly if I'm not wearing my head magnifier - you can't see it.  Note I also drilled out the holes at the front of the seat, because I could.  I hope they are holes.... they looked like they should be!

 

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Graham 

You are right with your observations . . . 

The seat was SQUARE and there wasnt a cushion in the seat base either as that was where the pilots 'Seat Type' parachute was positioned, the pilot wore his 'chute all the time he was flying. (Other crew members had a 'Chest type' parachute and they were stowed away close to their positions ).

 

Ian

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Removing the seat squab isn't beyond the whit of man, but correcting the over-length will be tricky because of how it is mounted. I'll take a look if the mood takes me!

 

Does anyone do 1/32 parachutes? Although I reckon the crew would have checked them out from stores before each mission rather than leaving them in the airframe... 

 

Mike

Edited by Chaotic Mike
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On 12/27/2018 at 10:51 AM, Chaotic Mike said:

I combined eBay, a tame luthier and about £500 in total and thus was born the Frankenbass

Mike, notwithstanding the delights of your build, it also made a bittersweet connection with me as I saw John Entwistle's Frankenstein bass, said to have been made from parts from a '65 precision, a jazz, and 3 separate slab precision basses.

 

It was at the showing at Sotheby's before his collection was auctioned off, and somewhere I have a photo of it. No one was allowed to touch it, but I do have a photo of me holding one of his  Warwick buzzard basses.

 

I certainly couldn't afford to have bought any of the guitars in the auction, but I confess, I would have loved to have been able to.

 

Err .... sorry for the digression, back to the Lancet!

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2 hours ago, Chaotic Mike said:

You're a doctor as well as a bass player and modeller? 😂

I'm off to the grump thread .........  subject .... Damn predictive text!

 

I'm sure you knew I meant the Lanc!

 

Incidentally, I'm not a bass player, in fact not a player of any instrument, but I do love bass guitar.

 

I think this stems from My Generation, then cemented by Substitute, where the lead instrument (not by any intention of Townshend) ended up being the bass.

 

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If my dear Mum was still with us then I would have bought one of those and built it for her.  She used to work as a riveter on bombers during the war.

mum_at_yeovilton_1000.jpg

 

Mike

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On 12/28/2018 at 4:46 AM, Bigdave22014 said:

Did you wipe down with IPA before you sprayed? That can cause the paint to pool like that if it hasn't dried thoroughly.

I'm confused. Why would you wipe down with this?

 

IPA.jpg

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4 hours ago, Whofan said:

 

I think this stems from My Generation, then cemented by Substitute, where the lead instrument (not by any intention of Townshend) ended up being the bass.

 

Strangely enough that’s how I got started on the bass guitar

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Yep, trying to sort out the rails was indeed a pain in the derriere...  I will make it look better, when the glues have set enough for the plastic to be workable.

 

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Applying wire onto panels hasn't grown old yet... but I'm sure it will!

 

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The extreme magnification courtesy of the camera phone makes me cringe... but it'll be fine IRL.  At least, that's what I keep telling myself.  There is a large pipe on a couple of oxygen tanks coming soon that looks pretty poor as a moulding but looks like it *might* be easily ground down and replaced.  Stay tuned for further thrills!

 

Mike

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14 hours ago, Chaotic Mike said:

Yep, trying to sort out the rails was indeed a pain in the derriere...  I will make it look better, when the glues have set enough for the plastic to be workable.

 

y4mmEwL1AJ05WNYmN-70BH1ikK0pWHBuufeCWFG0

It's funny how the camera distortion makes it look like ithe squab is sretched out again... Luckily, the previous shot shows it to be pretty much square! 

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That’s a great tip with the Rioja wire (Pity I only usually drink white wine!)

 

Thanks for thumbs up with the pix. I’ve found one more. This is the IWM’s Mk.X about 1988 before re assembly.

 

31675332917_34712edbe6_b.jpg

 

Trevor

 

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This is the rudder bar. It looks a bit crude to me, but the primary issue I have with it is that the pedals are at different heights. I couldn't have got it wrong, because the pieces are engineered to be Murphy-proof. Any experts going to tell me that all Lanc pilots had oddly shaped legs, before I indulge in a little slicing? 

 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ak5GPbYRVwab0Ht_Z-XM5df479RB

 

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Moving on. Thought I'd dress up the cockpit with snazzy HGW fabric+etch belts.  You would think I'd have learned, after my Tempest, but noooo…  So anyway, I acquired me some Spitfire IX harnesses, representing RAF equipment from the same time period.  Here is a picture of the instructions, and the belts:

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Observe what the instructions suggest you do with fabric part 3, and also what fabric part 3 looks like.  Has anyone actually ever built these things, and if so, how🙂I'm capable of slicing part 3 down the middle - if that's what they mean - but I don't think the pieces are remotely long enough to fold the attachment point into it.  Comparing the relative proportions of what is in the picture to what is on the fabric fret, it just doesn't look possible!

 

Any experience you'd like to spare?

 

Cheers then,

 

Mike

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